Embedded Files
We design molecules that report on their environment. Our research couples the rational design and synthesis of π-conjugated organic fluorophores with detailed photophysical study of their light-induced behaviour, and applies the resulting molecules as sensors and imaging probes for real-time visualisation of chemical and biological events in living system
Our current efforts are primarily directed toward two interconnected research themes. The first involves the development of materials exhibiting aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and the study of their self-assembly behavior to generate functional chromophoric systems. The second focuses on the rational design of donor–π–acceptor (D–π–A) fluorescent molecules, which serve as molecular sensors and cellular imaging probes for the real-time visualization of chemical and biological processes within living systems
1. Antibacterial Fluorophores and Microbial Imaging
Antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation are central obstacles to effective treatment of bacterial infection. We develop small-molecule probes for rapid staining and discrimination of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and for visualising biofilm states, combining photophysical characterisation with microbiological assays to probe bacterial uptake, membrane interaction, biofilm inhibition, and resistance.
2. Aggregation Induced Emission (AIE)
Cyanostilbene and related luminogens that emit more strongly in the aggregated and solid states than in solution, and the self-assembled architectures they form — fibrillar assemblies, organogels, and co-crystals — including host–guest modulation of photophysics and stability
3. Biomolecular Imaging and Sensing Applications
Red- and NIR-emitting probes with programmed selectivity for mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, lipid droplets, lysosomes, and the plasma membrane, including multi-organelle and dual-channel combinations. Beyond localisation, these probes report on dynamic processes — mitophagy, lipophagy, ferroptosis, viscosity and polarity changes, and organelle–organelle contacts — in live mammalian cells and whole organisms.
Turn-on and ratiometric probes for reactive species, metal ions, and biomolecules relevant to cellular physiology and diagnostics, engineered to operate in complex matrices such as serum and live cells
4. Cellular and Tissue Imaging for Biomedical Applications
Extension of probe design toward biomedical and diagnostic contexts: receptor-targeted probes for cancer cell recognition, fluorophores that demarcate normal from diseased tissue, and probes for plant tissue and other non-mammalian systems.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse